1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp which illuminates a predetermined range on a periphery of a vehicle with light from a plurality of LED light sources.
2. Related Art
FIG. 11 shows a side turn signal lamp 51 which relates to the invention. The lamp 51 is provided with a lamp body 53 installed within a housing 52 of a door mirror (which is an outside rearview mirror on a front side door) and an outer cover 54. A plurality of LED light sources 56 and a plurality of substrates 57 of the same number with the light sources are disposed within a lamp chamber 55 defined by the lamp body 53 and the outer cover 54. The substrates 57 are held in different orientations by holders 58, so that a wide range including the front, side and rear of the vehicle is illuminated with light from the plurality of light sources 56.
JP-A-2006-164908 discloses a vehicle lamp which includes an inner lens for covering a front surface portion of an outer lens from an inside thereof, a LED light source which emit light to the inner lens so as to be emitted from a surface of the inner lens, and another LED light source which emits light directly to a side surface portion of the outer lens from the inside thereof, and the plurality of LED light sources are mounted on separate substrates. JP-A-2004-001710 discloses a vehicle lamp in which a plurality of LED light sources are arranged on a common substrate and which irradiate light from the respective light sources in the same direction on to the periphery of a vehicle.
However, according to the vehicle lamp shown in FIG. 11 or in JP-A-2006-164908, the same number of substrates as the number of light sources are needed to change the orientations of the LED light sources, which increases the number of components, leading to a problem that the fabrication costs are increased. In addition, since the LED light sources are arranged in a horizontal direction, a depth of the lamp is increased, and there is caused a drawback that point light emissions from the respective LED light sources tends to become visible from the outside of the vehicle lamp. In the vehicle lamp of JP-A-2004-001710, although the substrate can be commonized, since the plurality of light sources are both oriented to the front of the vehicle, there is caused a problem that the side and rear of the vehicle become relatively dark.